Ahmed Nowell

[Huskyforlife]

I do think it's strange we can't find minutes for him once we're up 20. It's not like we knew they'd make a comeback.

 

[REB1094]

Felt like weak play at the point led to more than 2 TOs down stretch from Mahaney when Diarra was in foul trouble. I expected Nowell to be brought in for ball handling.

People saying the reason he doesn't get any run because we give up leads late in games are missing the point that we're asking him to get some minutes to help prevent us from giving up late game leads.

And I'd like Mahaney to be free up from ball handling so he can attack off the dribble when the ball swings to him during our offensive sets.

The TOs when it went from 20 to 9 were:

1. Karaban illegal screen (hit sticked a guy)
2. Karaban throwing it away while passing to Solo coming off a screen
3. Karaban getting stripped on a drive
4. Solo losing his balance on a drive and throwing it away
5. Stewart illegal screen

Nowell is one of my favorite players on this team but I don’t see how him being on the floor prevents any of those turnovers

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Just another talented freshman that won’t play or be developed much during their freshman year.

Then when he has his flaws next year people will complain about how they aren’t playing like veterans when they pretty much took a year off of playing competitive basketball.

Fire Hurley for Coaching Malpractice!!!!

 

[Palatine]

In the second half, after Diarra got #4 foul, and Mahaney came in, Mahaney had zero TOs.

 

[superjohn]

Just another talented freshman that won’t play or be developed much during their freshman year.

Then when he has his flaws next year people will complain about how they aren’t playing like veterans when they pretty much took a year off of playing competitive basketball.

It really sucks that Hurley doesn't know what he's doing.

 

[Devland]

This seems like it could be the backup QB syndrome. Fans see limited play vs the other teams backups and flaws the coaches see in practice aren't exposed.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Yeah I would love to see Nowell as the main backup at the 1 for Diarra and Mahney playing off the ball at the 2 but Hurley is stubborn about keeping Mahaney as the backup PG. I hope it pays off as the year goes on.

I’m sure Hurley has a vision. I don’t quite see it but I trust Hurley.

 

[AntG168]

The fan base picks a young bench guy to do this with every season. “Young player A needs to play. He fixes so and so issue”. Never fails. Hurley knows what he’s doing

 

[AllHusky]

Where is the evidence that this Hurley fellow knows what he is doing?

I am a Nowell fan too. I just want to see him play. Just have to be patient.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

It really sucks that Hurley doesn't know what he's doing.

Jumping like Jordan with these conclusions.

Multiple things can be true at once. Can’t imagine how we used to find playing time for guys like Terrance Samuels during championship runs. Seems impossible these days.

 

[AntG168]

Where is the evidence that this Hurley fellow knows what he is doing?

I am a Nowell fan too. I just want to see him play. Just have to be patient.

The truth is the majority of freshman aren’t actually good yet. Guys like Castle, Bouk, McNeeley have skewed our perspective.

 

[AntG168]

Jumping like Jordan with these conclusions.

Multiple things can be true at once. Can’t imagine how we used to find playing time for guys like Terrance Samuels during championship runs. Seems impossible these days.

Hurley plays freshman he thinks are ready.

It’s possible he’s being cautious with that shoulder injury as well. Those injuries have a habit of lingering.

 

[UConnSwag11]

His name is Ahmad not Ahmed.

Thanks

 

[Improviser]

There's always a press Q&A session post-game.

Surprised no reporter has asked the question on why no recent PT for Nowell.

Or, has it been asked and I missed reading about it?

 

[RuffRuff]

Do we all know he’s the solution or are just curious based on the little we know/seen? Hurley sees him every day in practice, he’s much less curious and basing his choices on a lot more of what he sees first hand every day in practice. I’m pretty confident if he’s not out there, it’s because Hurley doesn’t think he’s ready. I’m definitely curious to see what he’d look like, but the reality is that none of us have any clue. It sounds like a good idea, sure.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Based on what? He has been hurt by the fact, that we let teams back into games that should be blowouts. That would give him some playing time and hasten his development. But unless he is ripping it up in practice. He will have to wait his turn.

He can't be worse than our on-ball and perimeter defense minus Hass. In the little time he played, he showed a Boat level of intensity on the defensive end. On the offensive end, he can't be worse than Mahaney. According to ESPN, they're similar in stats with Mahaney playing in 6 more games than Nowell.

GP	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	FG%	FT%	3P%

Mahaney

13

13.7

4.5

0.8

1.6

0.2

0.0

0.5

36.8

71.4

36.7

Nowell

7

9.6

3.3

1.7

2.0

0.4

0.1

0.4

42.1

80.0

30.0

 

[UConnSwag11]

Do we all know he’s the solution or are just curious based on the little we know/seen? Hurley sees him every day in practice, he’s much less curious and basing his choices on a lot more of what he sees first hand every day in practice. I’m pretty confident if he’s not out there, it’s because Hurley doesn’t think he’s ready. I’m definitely curious to see what he’d look like, but the reality is that none of us have any clue. It sounds like a good idea, sure.

Hurley plays freshman he thinks are ready.

It’s possible he’s being cautious with that shoulder injury as well. Those injuries have a habit of lingering.

Agreed with the possible injury still lingering.

I'm going off of the eye test. Nowell's floor is Mahaney's ceiling as of now. Our defense is not good. It needs some hunger.

We also need someone to run point when Hass is out. Not sure how serious Liam's injury is. He seems to be playing the de facto pg when Hass is out.

 

[Jumpman62114]

From the limited min I’ve seen of Nowell, I like that he brings a relatively higher floor on defense and can hold his own. Mahaney’s offense is more developed but the defense at this level of play is cringeworthy too often. In Hurley we trust but stability at that backup PG role continues to be the biggest hole.

 

[jibsey]

The TOs when it went from 20 to 9 were:

1. Karaban illegal screen (hit sticked a guy)
2. Karaban throwing it away while passing to Solo coming off a screen
3. Karaban getting stripped on a drive
4. Solo losing his balance on a drive and throwing it away
5. Stewart illegal screen

Nowell is one of my favorite players on this team but I don’t see how him being on the floor prevents any of those turnovers

Agree but Nowell hasn’t played or shown enough to be anyone’s favorite player yet.

 

[superjohn]

Jumping like Jordan with these conclusions.

Multiple things can be true at once. Can’t imagine how we used to find playing time for guys like Terrance Samuels during championship runs. Seems impossible these days.

 

[HooperScooper]

Do we all know he’s the solution or are just curious based on the little we know/seen? Hurley sees him every day in practice, he’s much less curious and basing his choices on a lot more of what he sees first hand every day in practice. I’m pretty confident if he’s not out there, it’s because Hurley doesn’t think he’s ready. I’m definitely curious to see what he’d look like, but the reality is that none of us have any clue. It sounds like a good idea, sure.

Hurley said after Maui that he was going to play Nowell. So something changed his mind. That's what I'm curious about.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Hurley said after Maui that he was going to play Nowell. So something changed his mind. That's what I'm curious about.

We do know that prior to the Baylor game Nowell hurt his shoulder. Either the injury was more severe than they let on or it set Nowell back quite a bit.

 

[87Xfer]

Just another talented freshman that won’t play or be developed much during their freshman year.

Then when he has his flaws next year people will complain about how they aren’t playing like veterans when they pretty much took a year off of playing competitive basketball.

At this point, you're clearly just trolling right?

 

[jdb50]

Yeah it’s definitely about validating transfer portal decisions and has nothing to do with the fact that message board fans might not have as good a grasp on personnel as the coaching staff.

“not going to be allowed to contribute” - this place is hilarious.

Ahmad Nowell the #6 ranked incoming point guard can't get on the floor for UConn due to the play of Aiden Mahaney vs DePaul. A Diarra sprained ankle would be a huge issue and preparing a backup seems logical to me. Stewart was a going to sub in and Hurley pulled him back in the second half and Kimani had a look on his face like are you kidding? Some players get more leeway than others. This team needs everyone to be ready and we will see how this evolves.

 

[husky429]

He's not practicing as well as Mahaney. We don't see him every day.

For my sanity, I wish he's get some run to prove it, but I'm not a big enough donor to make that happen